


The Irrationality of Certain Fears

by Catbunblue302



Series: Whump for Bunnies [18]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Medic and Heavy appear for like two seconds, One Shot, Phobias, Sniper is panicked, Soldier is claustrophobic, Temporary Character Death, Trapped, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:33:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27457282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catbunblue302/pseuds/Catbunblue302
Summary: Fear doesn't listen to logic. In which Soldier is trapped and Sniper panics. Two mostly unrelated incidents.
Series: Whump for Bunnies [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949197
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	The Irrationality of Certain Fears

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back? Back again

Soldier and Sniper walked through the new base. Well, Sniper walked. Soldier marched. Both BLUs were carrying a stack of cardboard boxes in their arms.

“Wot’s in this anyway?” Sniper grumbled as he shifted the weight in his arms. “Bricks?”

“Rocks!”

“Wot.”

“Rocks, private! From every country and base I’ve ever been!”

“They’re yours, why the hell aren’t you carryin’ them?”

“I was not aware you were so weak! Have you been doing your push-ups, private?” Soldier looked at Sniper suspiciously.

Sniper said nothing. Last month Soldier had confronted Spy about not doing his ‘training’. The Frenchman had told him exactly where he could put his exercises. And as funny as it was to see Spy run laps around the base at the crack of dawn Sniper didn’t want to join him.

“ ‘Course I have.” Sniper lied.

“Perhaps you should talk to Medic then. I need my men healthy!” Soldier abruptly stopped in the middle of the hallway and swapped boxes with Sniper. “Those are for the kitchen!”

Soldier continued down the hall, leaving Sniper alone with only boxes and confusion for company. The kitchen was on the opposite end of the base. Why had Soldier walked with him if he didn’t have to go that way?

Sniper shook his head. He’d never been able to figure out why Soldier did anything. He adjusted his grip and was just about to start back when he felt a knife between his shoulder blades.

-

Soldier always made sure his room was as close to the armory as possible. It made him feel safe to be so close to his team’s weapons. He stopped in his room first to drop off his rocks and then circled back to the armory.

The shelves were still completely barren and a spider was hard at work building a web in the corner. Soldier felt a burst of excitement looking at the empty room. His favourite part of moving bases was sorting, organizing, and counting the weapons and ammunition.

The box was unceremoniously dumped on the ground and Soldier spun on his heel just in time to see the door swing shut.

Panic. That was the only accurate word to describe Soldier in that moment. He slammed his palms against the door. It didn’t budge.

“This is not funny, maggot! Open this door this instant! That is an order!”

Soldier wasn’t claustrophobic. True Americans do not feel fear! It’s just that the room was getting smaller every second and he was running out of air and he was going to suffocate and die in here was all.

On the other side of the door a padlock rattled and the RED Spy laughed.

-

It was around that time respawn finally spat Sniper out. He shuddered. Without the rush of adrenaline through his veins respawn always made him feel weird. Icky. Like his organs were shifting around and resettling.

His fingers itched for his kukri as he ran through the base searching for the rest of his team. Or a reasonably sized knife. Either was good.

He found Medic and Heavy in the medbay.

“RED Spy’s in the base.”

Medic threw up his hands. “Can’t have one day off, can ve?”

Heavy sighed. “Let me get Sasha.”

“If ya see anyone else let ‘em know.” Sniper left, feeling a little bit better.

For everyone else it was an annoyance. Sniper was genuinely on edge. He couldn’t help it. He was always jumpy whenever something like this happened.

He didn’t see anyone on his way to his van and there was nobody outside either. The back doors of the camper were propped open and it was just as Sniper saw the boxes stacked inside that he realized he had no idea where his weapons were.

Sniper shuffled the boxes around to check the usual spots. Not there. Okay, maybe he’d missed them. He shuffled them back and checked again. Where were they? He started ripping open the boxes, tossing the contents on the floor and then haphazardly shoving them back in when he couldn’t find what he wanted.

A chaotic mess built up around him.

-

How long had Soldier been trapped? Who knows. Time had stopped and time was dragging on forever at the same time.

Soldier still called for help, praying his team was close enough to hear him, that it hadn’t been them who’d locked him in as some sort of sick prank. No, no, that was a silly thought. They wouldn’t do that. Would they? No. Yes. Maybe. Soldier tried to reason himself out of his panic but every thought he had slipped away as soon as he made it.

His knuckles hurt.

There was blood on the door.

-

“What the hell are you doin’ Slim?”

Sniper looked up, his eyes like a wild animal’s. Engineer stood in the doorway, his arms crossed.

“Lookin’ for my kukri.” Sniper mumbled.

He was ashamed as he looked around at the mess he’d made. He’d made such a big deal about it. Respawn existed, it wasn’t really the end if he died.

“Can I come in?” Engineer’s voice was gentle so Sniper nodded.

The Southerner navigated through the chaos Sniper had made and sat down next to him. “Mind tellin’ me what this is all about?”

Sniper shifted. “ ‘S stupid.”

“If it’s got ya all worked up it ain’t stupid.”

“RED Spy’s in the base.”

“Are you afraid of him?”

“No.”

“Are you afraid of losing the briefcase?”

“No.”

Engineer was quickly running out of ideas. “Are you afraid of bein’ killed?”

Sniper didn’t say anything.

“We die ev’ry day.” Engineer said.

“I said it was stupid.”

Engineer hadn’t meant it like that. “What makes this time different?”

“Dunno.” Sniper was chewing on his fingers.

“Would it make ya feel any better if we go hunt down that good-for-nothin’ snake?”

“Yeah.”

Engineer clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go then, son.”

-

Pyro skipped along the hall, humming to themself as they went. It was almost completely muffled under their mask but they didn’t care.

They stopped. There was banging… and screaming..? Was it the armory?

“Mpph?”

“Pyro? Let me out!”

Oh, it was Soldier! How’d he get locked in the armoury? Pyro hoped the enemy Spy wasn’t about. They rarely disliked anyone but they absolutely  _ hated  _ the RED Spy. He was mean. Sure, their Spy was mean too but at least he usually felt bad and apologized afterwards.

Pyro tipped their head to get a better look at the padlock. They didn’t see a key anywhere but Spy could pick it or Engineer could cut it off.

“Mphll mphe mphight mphhh!” Pyro assured Soldier as well as they could and then darted off to find someone.

Luckily Spy wasn’t far away. Pyro grabbed his wrist and dragged him back up the hall towards the armoury.

“Pyro, for the last time I do not care about-”

He was cut off by Soldier shouting through the door. “Spy! Help!”

Spy stared at the padlock on the door. What. How. Ughh, y’know what, he didn’t want to know. The padlock came open easily under his skilled hands and he jumped back just quick enough to avoid being smacked in the face with the door.

“I’m free! America rejoices!” Soldier threw up his arms and then, like a flip of a switch, completely changed moods. He slumped against the wall, his knees to his chest.

Pyro made a concerned noise and looked to Spy. Why was Soldier upset? They’d gotten him out!

Spy was equally unsettled. The situation called for emotional support and oh merde, how he was awful at that.

Spy squatted beside Soldier. Was this a hug situation? He awkwardly patted the American’s shoulder. He stiffened and Spy froze. He’d messed up somewhe- Soldier ensnared him in a tight hug. Pyro clapped their hands with glee and joined in.

Spy was feeling a bit squished but if Soldier felt better he supposed this was fine. Maybe. It would be a lot more fine if he could move.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't intend for this to be this long lmao.
> 
> Also- I want to clarify: Soldier didn't make Spy run. Spy felt guilty, apologized, and accidentally told Soldier he would run with them. If anyone wants to make that a story I'd love you forever...
> 
> Also also- The next one is going to be so fucking sad so buckle up


End file.
